1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a maintenance unit and a liquid ejecting apparatus.
2. Related Art
Ink jet printers have been known as an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus that perform printing on paper (recording media) by ejecting ink (liquid) from an ink jet head (liquid ejecting head). For example, JP-A-2007-296757 describes a liquid ejecting apparatus provided with a maintenance unit that discharges thickened liquid, air bubbles, and foreign substances from the liquid ejecting head along with the liquid for the purpose of resolving ejecting failures of the liquid from the liquid ejecting head.
JP-A-2007-296757 describes technique aimed at enabling maintenance work to be easily and inexpensively performed on a maintenance unit. The maintenance unit described in JP-A-2007-296757 includes a unit frame that holds a pump, and a pump tube that is provided for the pump and connected to a waste liquid tank (waste liquid container). The pump tube is divided and interconnected by a tube joint provided on the unit frame, and the tube joint is disposed at a position at which the tube joint is exposed from the platform in a state where an outer cover is removed.
With the technique described above, the maintenance unit and the waste liquid container are connected via a tube and, consequentially, both the maintenance unit and the waste liquid container have to be positioned with respect to the liquid ejecting apparatus body in order to ensure positional accuracy thereof. Moreover, when replacing either of the maintenance unit and the waste liquid container, extra effort in maintenance was required as it was necessary to remove the tube after releasing the positioning, on the liquid ejecting apparatus, of the part to be replaced.